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US to provide $75M to expand Ebola care centers

By Sarah DilorenzoAssociated Press

September 4, 2014

Health worker's spray each other with disinfectant chemicals as they worked with a suspected Ebola virus death in Monrovia, Liberia, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014. As West Africa struggles to contain the biggest ever outbreak of Ebola, some experts say an unusual but simple treatment might help: the blood of survivors. The evidence is mixed for using infection-fighting antibodies from survivors' blood for Ebola, but without any licensed drugs or vaccines for the deadly disease, some say it's worth a shot. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The U.S. aid agency is providing $75 million to fund 1,000 more beds in Ebola treatment centers in Liberia and tens of thousands of protective suits for health care workers.

An Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed 1,900 people already and officials say it is out of control.

The U.S. Agency for International Development on Thursday also urged American medical workers to respond to the outbreak, saying several hundred more international experts are needed.

The region’s struggling health systems have buckled under the pressure of caring for thousands of people sickened by the killer virus. There is not enough space on wards for those seeking care and not enough staff to care for them. There is also a severe shortage of protective gear for doctors and nurses.